In the Darkness of the Night
by PulseFire
Summary: "Reality is a cruel one Jack. It shows no mercy, it only brings hurt and despair. And you will never be prepared to face it's wrath." When Pitch tricks Jack into thinking that the other guardians have turned on him, he flies to Burgess, not knowing who was waiting for him. After he is mortally wounded by Pitch, he has nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. ((This is my first fic))
1. Chapter 1

"_Reality is a cruel one Jack. It shows no mercy, it only brings hurt and despair. And you will never be prepared to face it's wrath." _Pitch's words rang through Jack's head as he stumbled through Burgess, his sweatshirt growing a darker shade of red with every step that he took.

…

Earlier that day, Jack had gone to North's workshop to find something to occupy him, only to find that Bunny was there as well. And the Rabbit didn't sound very pleased when Jack heard his and North's conversation as he flew in through the window.

"Hey North! Guess who-" Jack quickly stopped himself and tiptoed closer to the room he heard the voices coming from.

But to no avail, as he was straining to hear around a corner, he tripped on a group of running elves. Catching the others attention and almost revealing his position.

"What in the blazes is going on?" the annoyed Easter spirit asked.

"It is probably just elves playing their tricks on yetis." The large man proclaimed, chuckling to himself.

"Well, it's bloody hard to explain things when I keep getting interrupted." Bunny huffed.

"I am sorry, I will talk to elves later." North said, suddenly acting serious. "Continue story."

Jack let out a quiet sigh of relief as he realized that he hadn't been found out. From the way Bunny was acting, he didn't want to get on his bad side. He leaned closer to the voices, concentrating on what Bunnymund had to say next.

"Well, I was in my warren, minding my own business and painting eggs when that bloody frostbite went and froze the whole place! By the time I had gone to look for him, he had already disappeared. The nerve, I lost at least a hundred eggs today. If not two hundred!"

Jack furrowed his brow. He had been in Thailand that morning, doing his job and making it snow. Not at the warren playing pranks. Why did Bunnymund always have to blame him for everything?

"You better go find that wanker and give him a talking to before I do it myself. He's lucky that I don't go and give him a taste of my boomerangs." Bunny hollered as he walked out of the room.

"Bunny, wait-" North's words were cut off by the angered voice of Jack as bunny reached the large doorway.

"Wait a sec here, you're blaming me for this? I was in _Thailand _this morning, check the weather report before you start making ridiculous accusations, Kangaroo." Jack made sure to make the 'Kangaroo' remark sound as disrespectful as he could. He came to the workshop to find something to do, not sit back and let Bunny blame him for everything.

"I am _not _a Kangaroo. And of course it was you, it wasn't Tooth." Bunnymund said sarcastically. "Stop trying to get out of it, and next time, I won't let you get away so easily." He said as he tapped his foot and jumped back to his warren. Bunny had had enough of Jack for a while.

"Hey, come back!" Jack yelled after him, still angry that Bunny wouldn't listen to him. "You don't believe him, do you North?"

"Well Jack, I do not see how it was not you. You enjoy playing the pranks on Bunny... and he had point with whole 'was not Tooth'. You should apologize." North said harshly. He knew that Jack wouldn't do something as rash as that, but Bunny was correct, it had to be Jack. Who else could it be? Yet somewhere in the back of his mind, North knew something wasn't right, that wasn't what he had meant to say.

"But North..." Jack said, hiding how hurt he was with North's comment, Just another person not believing him. The guardian of wisdom seemed a little more brash than usual "I swear, it wasn't me."

As Jack said that, north realized what was happening. The odd feeling of saying the opposite of what was he was thinking before was real. Pitch was the one who had frozen Bunny's warren. Pitch was controlling his mind, trying to make him think that he didn't believe him and trick his mind into assuming that Jack had done it. But why? Why would Pitch want Jack to think that he didn't believe him?

Then it dawned upon him. Pitch wanted Jack to stray away from the guardians. To make him vulnerable so that Pitch could make his comeback. This would make Jack and the other guardians exposed, the more they were dispersed, the more powerful Pitch would be if he attacked.

"North?" Jack asked gloomily, still downcast by his previous comment.

North realized that he hadn't answered and stuttered, "Oh, sorry, I was thinking." and at that moment, Pitch took over. Completely controlling what North said next. "I was thinking about how you are not welcome here anymore. You cannot play irrational tricks on other guardians, it is time you learned your lesson. Being a guardian is serious business, and if you are going to continue being one, I would suggest that you mature a little." North fought against Pitch, knowing that what he had said would hurt Jack's feelings more than he could imagine.

"But I swear-" Jack cried, trying to defend himself. "Okay, I'll leave..." Jack said, fighting back tears. He knew that after North had made up his mind, he wouldn't change it. The man had been a father to him over the past few months, and he had never imagined him turning the winter spirit away so easily.

Jack walked to the window and flew away, not caring where the wind took him.

**Sorry this was so short, I promise it's going to get better! Please review and let me know what you like and don't like. Feel free to criticize, I need all the practice I can get to make this a great fic! Also, suggestions are good too. The next chapter is going to be _much_ longer and is probably going to be released in the next couple of days.  
**

**Thanks!  
****PulseFire  
**


	2. Chapter 2

(W/ Pitch)

Pitch's plan was working perfectly. He had successfully taken control of the guardians in the workshop and taken away any means of communication they might have had with the other guardians.

After Jack had left, using his influence on North, Pitch willed the large spirit destroy the globe, revoking their ability to use the heavily relied upon alert system. But these weren't the only perks of it being gone. When the Borealis Communication System (or the BCS, as the guardians refer to it) was disabled, it sucked power from the largest nearby sources of magic. And given the situation, those sources were, very conveniently, North and Bunny. It was guaranteed they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Especially not to go saving their comrades from the danger that awaited them.

The next step was to take down Jack Frost. Pitch hid in the shadows of the spindly trees that surrounded the frozen lake in Burgess. Jack would never see it coming.

Pitch sat, composed and set, like a spider, waiting for it's prey to fly into the deadly trap that was it's web. The nightmares around him whinnied in anticipation, impatient and almost invisible to those who weren't looking. Their shadows dancing across the white blanket on the forest floor.

"Calm, my darlings. Soon we shall see the glorious red of Jack Frost's blood spread around our feet. It shall be easy. He's already broken from his own ignorance and stupidity. After this last task, the others will be weak, and we shall have our revenge on those bothersome spirits that call themselves guardians."

(W/ Jack)

All the children could see from the ground below was a blue streak, flying across the white sky through the blizzard he was unconsciously summoning. His mind was a whirl, the snow copying his thoughts. Hate, fear, confusion, hurt, and embarrassment were all things he was feeling. He couldn't understand why the Man in the Moon would give him something, make it precious and dear to him, and then throw it all away. The source of the first warmth that he had felt in over three hundred years.

And he was never going to experience it again.

He could never trust anyone, never make an attachment to something, because it whenever he did, it just seemed to end up hurting him. Jack only had one place left to go. Back to where he became the ghastly creature that he was.

As he flew over the ocean, he noticed that there was something dripping down his face. It was warm and sort of salty.

And then it hit him. He was crying. Jack Frost was crying.

_What happened to the Jack all the children used to look up to?_ He thought to himself. _North was right, I would never be able to handle being a guardian._

When Jack finally reached the lake, Pitch smiled to himself. Praising himself silently for being so brilliant. Jack, oblivious to the danger around him, looked up to the sky, more tears running down his face.

"Why? Would do you take pleasure in making me miserable? I'm sure you're laughing up there, enjoying every moment. But you know what? Have your fun, I'm done being a guardian and helping people. When have I ever gotten anything in return, huh? From now on, I'm not going to rely on anyone. Especially not _you. _Even Pitch gets more respect than I do-"

"Oh _really, _now? You are very naive, aren't you?" Pitch and his nightmares walked out of the shadows, pouncing on Jack.

And Jack didn't think it possible for him to be in any more pain than he was before. But it's very often that people underestimate things.

**There you guys go. After I wrote the first chapter, I kind of gave up. But I came back and saw all of the reviews and follows and made some un-human noises that resembled squeals from all of your love! I have all of the plot written for the next few chapters, so expect to actually see more within the next week! I promise I'm not going to abandon you guys again. ;u;**

**Thanks,**

**PulseFire**


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